However, he couldn’t deny checking his smart phone with regularity once he heard what top pitching prospect Jesse Biddle was doing in Harrisburg for Double-A Reading.

The left-hander had a perfect game going into the seventh inning before that ended with a walk. The no-hitter evaporated on a single to left, but Biddle ended his outing with his 16th strikeout of the night to end the seventh.

Eleven of those 16 K’s came on swings, but what amazed Jordan was how few pitches the Germantown Friends product needed to pile up that many strikeouts in the first six innings.

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“To strike out 14 guys in six innings with 73 pitches is almost impossible to do,” Jordan said. “He averaged like 12 pitches an inning and struck out 14 guys ... that’s shows he had command with all four (pitches).”

Biddle throws a fastball, curve, slider and changeup, but the pitch that seemed to be his punch-out pitch was a slow curve that he constantly dropped on the corners.

“He’ll add and subtract (speed) with it, which is even better,” Jordan said of Biddle’s curve. “You can throw as good of a curve ball as you want, but if it isn’t in the strike zone, that won’t play. Guys up here won’t swing at it.”

The Phillies have been pleased with the amount of arms they have in the higher levels that have a shot to stick in big-league rotations and bullpens, but since spring training it has been a pair of southpaws -- Biddle and Triple-A ace Adam Morgan -- who have started down a path that, if they can stay on course, could have them vying for rotation spot in 2014 for the Phils.

Biddle, the Phils’ first-round pick in 2010, is 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA, 30 strikeouts and a 0.800 WHIP in 25 innings. Morgan, a third-round pick out of Alabama in 2011, is 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA and a 0.826 WHIP in three starts (he was supposed to pitch for the IronPigs Tuesday, but the game was rained out).

Morgan is 20 months older than Biddle and made just six Double-A starts at the end of last season before getting promoted to Triple-A to start this season, but Jordan says both pitchers are at similar points in their development.

However, in spring training it was Morgan who attended big-league camp as a non-roster invitee. Biddle didn’t, and admitted that it served as motivation when he showed up for minor-league training down 30 pounds of baby fat from where he was when the Phils drafted him.

When you consider Roy Halladay is in the final year of his contract and John Lannan is hurt and signed to a one-year deal, there could be a couple of openings in the Phillies’ rotation next season. It’s early, but Biddle could be pushing to be a part of that conversation.

“He’s got a lot confidence,” Jordan said. “He had a tremendous spring training, as good a spring as any pitcher we have, and we have several who did. He’s stronger, he’s leaner, he’s totally into the program. He does everything he needs to between starts. He’s just a pro, he really is. It’s all coming together -- strength, knowledge, everything.

“This guy is made like the good ones are made. He comes to work every day. He’s a pro.”

NOTES

Carlos Ruiz started his minor-league assignment with Class A Clearwater as he prepares to rejoin the Phillies after his 25-game suspension Sunday in New York. Ruiz went 0-for-4 in a loss to Lakeland. He’ll play one more game with the Threshers Wednesday, then start Friday and Saturday for Reading ... Delmon Young had three hits, including a double for Clearwater Tuesday night. Even though Young’s play in right field has been a bit stiff, according to witnesses, he will join Lehigh Valley in Indianapolis Thursday, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see him activated Tuesday when the Phils play two games in Cleveland and have a designated hitter slot to fill.